KLCI closes a shade below record high

by **hlk** Wed 22 May 2013, 01:22

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips closed higher on Tuesday at
1,787.38, which was a shade below the all-time record high of 1,788.43
recorded a week ago, with investor sentiment remaining firm.
At
the close, the FBM KLCI was up 10.23 points or 0.58% to 1,787.38.
Turnover was 2.97 billion shares valued at RM3.01bil. Gainers beat
losers 633 to 363 while 226 counters were unchanged.
Key Asian
markets closed mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 edged up to a fresh 5-1/2-year
high on Tuesday, reversing earlier losses, as retail investors scooped
up underperforming stocks such as Sharp Corp and Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc, Reuters reported.
At Bursa Malaysia, banks were the top gainers, wih Maybank up 14 sen to RM10.22, pushing the KLCI up 2.17 points.
AMMB, Hong Leong Bank and HLFG rose 10 sen each to RM7.30, RM14.38 and RM15.68 respectively while Public Bank gained eight sen to RM16.70. Affin lost 11 sen to RM4.40.
Among the consumer stocks, BAT rose 74 sen to RM64.94, GAB 28 sen to RM20.78.
Tenaga rose eight sen to RM8.30 and added 1.02 points to the KLCI.
Crude palm oil for third-month futures rose RM7 to RM2,342. Batu Kawan was the top gainers among the plantations, rising 20 sen to RM19.20 while PPB Group added 18 sen to RM13.88 and FGV 12 sen to RM4.62.
Among the oil and gas related counters, Dialog was the top gainer, adding 20 sen to RM3
Property stocks were also higher with Cresendo-WA up 37 sen to RM2.52 while the mother share gained 18 sen to RM3.63. YNH Property rose 15 sen to RM2.25.
The ringgit weakened to 3.0185 against the US dollar from 3.0143 the previous close.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.13% to 15,381.02;
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.54% to 23,366.37;
Shanghai's Composite Index rose 0.22% to 2,305.11;
Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.07% to 8,383.05;
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.07% to 1,981.09 and
Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.3% to 3,443.90.
US light crude oil fell 22 cents to RM96.49 and Brent 57 cents lower at US$104.23.
Spot gold fell US$14.42 to 1,379.44.